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I've always wondered from an economics point of view what the real cost of being a freewayless town is in terms of lost efficiency, pollution from idling cars, etc?
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How about lost opportunities from companies who decide NOT to invest in the city because the lack of infrastructures?
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As for Winnipeg, I can't really speak to the traffic situation there, but having a major high speed road without any traffic lights can only be a good thing as more people will want to live in a house than a town home or a condo simply because it is a more comfortable lifestyle. I think focusing on actually building a LRT would make much more sense than developing a freeway. |
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^ that is truly sad.
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It is. -_-;
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Have to agree with TV on this one, though I don't think that Calgary is a "model" for suburban sprawl. Many freeways are built under the assumption that they will help move goods, but end up being clogged by commuter traffic. Instead, focus on public transit and get people off the roads, and improve the existing infrastructure to a point where truck traffic can move reasonably well.
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There is no leapfrog development, density is consistent and getting increasinly dense with most coming in around 12 UPA, which is extremely high by Canadian standards (for instance, the most dense greenfield subdivision in the GTA - Cornell, in Markham is less than 12 upa. There is a much better unit mix in Calgary subdivisions than in most canadian or north american subdivisions. We also don't have edge cities that suck the life and primacy of downtown as the employment node for the city. Calgary has by far the LEAST employment sprawl of any city in North America. To me, that is at least half of what you should consider in terms of the sprawl of a city. 80% of the Metro's office space and most employment is in the centre city. This makes rapid transit viable. Density is not an end in itself, and Calgary has some good outcomes such as high transit ridership despite a spread out city. |
I said our transit system is a model system, please read carefully before criticizing.
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josh and borris, i agree completly...those are all very good points.
i just got back from the rugby world cup in france and spent some time in nice....they are right now constructing a tramway system throught the downtown...it looked so simple to build and will completely transform the city.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Nice it made me so sad to live in a place with such a small minded attitude towards what a city should be. winnipeg has no freeways because freeways cost money to build, not because we are any smarter than anyone else....our luck was a result of our backwards attitude not our vision. btw josh, i apologize for not responding to your e-mail a while back...i read it and closed it to give you a proper response later, and then completely forgot....for what its worth, i know nothing about what is going on at that site...the developer is doing his own thing right now, without our involvement....i will let you know if anything comes up....i didnt even know there was anything happening there...neither did my boss....he was disturbed to find it out actually. |
So is there even any discussion of putting a mass transit system in the Peg? what is traffic like there?
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we have no traffic issues.....there is lots of discussion but it wont happen under this mayor
the previous mayor had 50 million dollars from the 3 levels of government to implement the first leg af a BRT system from downtown to the U of M....the drawings were done and the system ready to go....when he stepped down to run federally, the new mayor's first act in office was to cancel the initiative and re-direct the money into community rec centres...it has been almost 4 years and not a cent has actually been spent on rec centres....the feds ended up taking back their money. as well, winnipeg's mayor argued successfully with the feds to get an exclusive exemption for winnipeg to use the new gas tax money that is supposed to be spent on public transit, for road and sewer repair. there is yet another task force set up to look into the feasibility of a system, but he did this just to placate the opposition....they are going to put GPS systems on the busses and they spent 10 million on a system that will time stop lights...thats winnipeg's vision. the bus system is inadequate, but it actually does serve a pretty high level of ridership...it is dropping however. |
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I would support an LRT .. but Manitoba doesn't have the funds to build it. Manitoba needs to build its economy to the point of being able to support an LRT system... it is coming along. I for one am hopefull for this day within the next 10 years... but it would be without economic growth. |
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Sure it would make a few hundred students happy, but I would put a much higher priority on enhancing Winnipeg's roadway inhancement for the purpose of increasing efficiency of the roads, as a means to build Winnipeg's position as a transportation hub. In the end I am sure this is the direction which willbe followed as there is increased interest in cargo distribution investment in the city .. but Winnipeg needs to modernize its infrastructure. Winnipeg is turning towards attracting this type of investment, as can no longer sit idlly by and watch opportunities walk by, as it has been for far too long. Winnipeg has finally put its economic growth and investment growth at a higher priority than glossy brochure mega projects. I couldn't be happier as it will pay huge dividends for the city and province. Out of couriousity what is the funding breakdown of Calgary's new LRT expansion? |
Normally the freight speeds through cities are way too low to make commuting viable. Nobody is going to ride the train in Winnipeg if it averages 20 km/h.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Halifax region had just about the highest highway lane km per capita in Canada, but there aren't very good highway connections in the city. The fact is that it is usually very painful to build a full highway right into the middle of a city. It costs a fortune, requires mass expropriation of land, and cuts off neighbourhoods from each other. Traffic is always going to be an issue in successful cities because land is at a premium. Most of the cities with no traffic problems are half dead. Downtowns where there is tons of parking and where it's easy to drive around have usually been torn apart to the point where they look like suburban office parks anyway, so why not just leave that kind of thing to the suburbs? |
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